Michelle West DAW books update

[msagara]

I have good news and bad news.

The good news first: DAW is buying three more Michelle West novels!

The bad news: the 1st of those three is actually the second plot arc of the book I've been working on for the last fifteen months.


Yes. The Michelle who cannot for love or money figure out how long it takes to tell a story has once again written herself out of the range of a single book. In June of last year, I wrote that I was tying up two plot arcs in House Name on the way to Terafin.

It took a little bit longer to tie them up than I thought it would, but not a lot. And I had said it was going to be 'one more book', so I kept on writing because surely I could fit the second plot arc in a few hundred pages.

Well. As long as we define a few hundred pages to be eight hundred or more (because I am not yet finished), the answer is, yes. But if we define a few hundred pages in a more consensual-reality way, the answer is: No.

This is, as usual, entirely my fault. This is not DAW, or DAW's fault, or something DAW insisted on. If I wanted to finish in one book, I would have had to cut several hundred pages, and my editor felt that this was not an entirely rational approach, given the pages I was suggesting I would have to cut.

And, of course, because it's me, the "shorter" of the two halves, which will be coming in March 2010 as City of Night (I have a scan of the artwork :D. I can't post it because it's not mine V.V. As soon as I have covers, or if Jody Lee does put it up on her web-site, I will send link), will be about 185-190k words.

The longer half, which is still called House Name, will be about the same length as Hidden City (which was mumble words), because in my panic about length I may have left out a couple of things that are probably necessary (which is what I do when I start to panic about length).

But the good news there is that I'm probably about two months from finishing House Name now that I can, you know, breathe again.

And if I say anything about how many books any particular arc or series will take me to write ever again, please feel free to kick me. Or mock me.

ETA: articles. Because articles are good.

Comments

[ovirginsaint.livejournal.com]

I'm of the opinion that more from you is definitely a good thing--though I can see how it could be a problem if the publisher has said that they're only buying X amount of books. I also rather like long books (which is one of the reasons I picked yours up in the first place <3) so this makes me an extra happy camper. I'm looking forward to House Name and the next Cast book as well. :)

On twitter, you'd said that you're watching a bit of Last Exile with your kids, and I have to say, it was a really good anime. I want to go watch it again now. :)

[msagara.livejournal.com]

On twitter, you'd said that you're watching a bit of Last Exile with your kids, and I have to say, it was a really good anime. I want to go watch it again now. :)

We're four episodes into it right now, and at the moment, I really like it. We tend to like a lot of the same things, but the youngest doesn't like too much intensity in terms of emotion or terror or grief, so when the complete set of Last Exile came out on DVD, we picked it up, and will watch it to the end.

We've liked Scrapped Princess, The Last Airbender, Noien (but my youngest kind of lost interest at the very end because he simply did not understand a villain who could -forget- that there were also -good- things that happened in life, along with the bad ones), Scryed. Oh, and Kenshin.

I'm probably going to try Bleach when I can get complete seasons.

[estara.livejournal.com]

Can I plug Princess Tutu!?! If you can handle the later episodes of Last Exile and Scrapped Princess, that should be no problem ^^
What some clever people have to say about it
(spoilerfree)
http://kate-nepveu.livejournal.com/253973.html
(fairly spoiler-free)
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2007/12/11/mangaanime-a-great-present-for-kids-of-all-ages-princess-tutu/
(with spoilers)
http://meganbmoore.livejournal.com/tag/anime:+princess+tutu
http://salimbol.livejournal.com/1030.html
http://mbeasi.livejournal.com/10748.html

[estara.livejournal.com]

On second thought, don't watch the second video on the Dear Author review, that is too spoilery.

[lianthe.livejournal.com]

I just finished Princess Tutu myself and it was quite charming! It was satisfying in a way that many anime are not: it had an ending! A real one! One that actually made sense.

[estara.livejournal.com]

Yes, they didn't betray the storyline at all. Quite amazing for an anime ostensibly not aimed at adults, really.

[ovirginsaint.livejournal.com]

If your youngest isn't fond of those things, another series you might want to see is Honey and Clover. It's a would-be romantic comedy centering around some college age art students.

Bleach is good, but it's also very long--though if you've gotten through all of Kenshin, I don't think that's much of a problem :) I have yet to see The Last Airbender, though my husband says I MUST see it. And I will, but probably after I'm done with Full Metal Alchemist's do-over.